Page 3 of Alpha's Runaway Mate

Instinctively, I searched the surroundings and found a fallen tree nearby, a perfect spot for Leo to hide while I fended off the shifters.

“Go hide over there, Leo,” I commanded.

“No. I’m not leaving you, Mom.”

I admired his bravery, but Leo hadn’t shown any sign of being a wolf. Right now, he was more human than a wolf shifter. In other words, he was defenseless.

“Leo, go! Now!” I whisper-yelled, prompting him to scurry behind the fallen tree. Just when he hid, I sensed someone charging toward me. Before I could turn to block the attack, a blow to my face sent me flying and crashing hard against a tree.

The impact had me groaning out in pain, and once the bitter, metallic taste filled my mouth, I knew I was bleeding. Footsteps closed in, which indicated that they were closer to me than I had thought. I barely managed to find my feet. My back hurt from the impact of slamming against the tree, and I was sure something had broken. It would heal, as it always did, but first, I needed to take care of these bastards.

I put my ear to the ground, listening keenly to try and count the number of steps coming in my direction. I heard two, then four, then six. Three Blackwood shifters after me. They must be pretty desperate after all these years.

I listened again and heard the way my boy's heart thundered in his chest as he whimpered. I didn’t think they knew he was hiding—that was good. But I had to keep it that way.

The shifters were now in sight, charging toward me at full speed as I lay flat against the ground. If I ran, they would follow me. They were faster and stronger. But I was smarter, and that was the only advantage I had.

“Is she dead?” I heard one of them ask.

“She better not be. Thane wants her alive.”

I lay motionless on the ground, pretending to be unconscious as they moved within striking distance. When one of the shifters moved forward to check my vitals, I drove a broken branch straight into his jugular in a quick thrust, causing blood to spray out until he collapsed. The others, alarmed, charged toward me, but I immediately found my feet, mustering the last strength in me to evade their blows.

Not long after, one of their claws connected with my arm, ripping into my flesh. Crying out in pain, I clutched my bleeding arm, trying to evade another blow, but I felt a sharp pain as another of their extended claws drove deep into my abdomen. My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees, blood oozing out of the gash.

They didn’t give me a moment to recuperate as one of the Blackwood shifters, the one who had been trying to see if I was still alive, sent a blow right into my face, which sent me to the ground.

My body was weak, but my healing abilities were kicking in slowly. However, they weren’t letting up. What happened to,“Thane wants her alive?” I thought.

Coughing out blood, I tried to crawl to heaven knows where, but one of the shifters placed his foot on my back, slamming me back to the ground.

“Where do you think you’re going, pretty lady?” He chuckled derisively, and his crew laughed along with him. “See anything, Roger?”

Roger? Though my entire being was weak, I lifted my head just enough to see a man emerge from the woods. My stomach twisted when I saw the man that crossed through my line of sight.

It was Roger, the lowlife regular at the pub where I worked. There was nothing regular about him. Sure, he was still a lowlife, but those extended claws and fangs showed that there was a lot more to him than I had seen before. Usually, wolf shifters could identify themselves even in a crowd. They had a scent. But for some reason, in the two years that I had worked at the pub, I never caught a hint of anything that told me that Rogers was a werewolf.

Rogers yelled from the tree line, “There’s no sign of a boy here—oh wait. There he is!”

Shit! Leo had been found.

“Run, Leo! Run!” I screamed at the top of my lungs but two shifters were already darting in the direction Leo had been hiding.

I trembled with fear at the thought of Leo getting caught, and that fear soon materialized when I heard my boy scream as they got a hold of him. Suddenly, something clicked within me. My bones began to crack and realign, reshaping into my primal form. My fingers and toes stretched into sharp claws, and my skin gave way to my thick white fur.

I hadn’t shifted in years, not since the night I was rejected by my mate. My wolf had gone berserk. I couldn’t control my actions when my wolf took its primal form. Which meant that I couldn’t control what might happen next…

With this newfound strength, I lurched at the shifter holding me down, digging my fangs into his throat and tearing it apart. With him dead and forgotten, I charged, fueled by rage, toward the other Blackwood shifters who had Leo in their arms. I raked my claws across the chest of the first shifter that launched himself at me, which sent him crashing to the ground as he cried out in pain. The other shifters, taken aback by this, stumbled back in surprise. But my wolf wasn’t done yet.

They were going to fall, every single one of them. With a swift, powerful movement, I rushed at another one of the shifters, and closed my jaws around his throat till he stopped struggling, indicating that he was just as lifeless as his other two comrades. Then there was only Rogers, who was holding Leo by the arm.

He fell to his knees trembling with fear. “I’m not a Blackwood, I swear! They only recruited me when they came to the pub looking for you! Please—”

Those were his last words before I stuck my claw in his throat. But before he fell, he dug his claws into my sides, which were already wounded, deepening the wound.

Shifting back to my human form, I collapsed to the ground, feeling life slip away from me. Leo rushed to my side, tears streaming down his face as he begged me not to leave him. The last thing I saw before the darkness enveloped me was the face of my son. Leo…

Chapter Two — Kaine’s POV